This is what I posted on the Operation Sports forum:
Games change, innovations are implemented, improvements take place, but every year there is one constant - the good old PES-FIFA debate flares up in all its glory. Love it.
And it's funny how different people find the same exact feature to be "great" or "game breaking" depending on who it is that plays the games.
A particular game will never be perfect for everyone. Everyone will find something that appeals or irritates. In some cases it is the very same feature that causes contention.
In my opinion both games have improved this year, but PES has improved more than FIFA has. It's difficult to make a parallel comparison, because I find each game to have strengths and weaknesses in different areas and again, that is just a personal opinion.
Disclaimer: my observations are purely based on the demos.
For example, some people have said that FIFA looks amazing visually. Whilst this may be true compared to FIFA 12, I still believe PES looks much better, in terms of colour representation, shadows and overall crispness. The screenshot which precedes a kick off in PES is absolutely stunning and if you were to see this from a distance, you could easily mistake it for a shot from a real life game. FIFA looks kind of blurry and the colours are well over saturated (hence the arcade feel that some have commented on). For example the grass looks unrelaistic in FIFA compared to PES and this contributes to the opinion of those people who say that "players float" in FIFA. This is especially evident during penalty shootouts. The players are also smaller somehow... It's hard to explain - they just look cartoonish.
However, my opinion is based on a snapshot of the field, not so much on the animation, where I think FIFA has the upper hand in terms of fluidity.
Controls.
FIFA feels more responsive but this level of responsiveness is at the expense of a realistic feel. Granted that it's played with default sliders, it feels almost too easy to zip a pass across the pitch. PES Is more of a struggle, but somehow there is a weight to actions and movement. It may feel a bit cumbersome, but for me personally it feels closer to reality and most importantly it has momentum and physics.
The reason PES is more of a struggle is because it is more accurate in the way the physics interact. Example: You cannot expect a player to hit the ball if the ball is not actually there to be hit. WIth PES there is a delay between the push of the pass button and the execution of the pass. That is because the AI awaits the foot of the player to make contact with the ball. It can be frustrating but it's simple physics. WIth FIFA this is somehow made easier, but it is at the expense of realism.
The one gripe I have with PES is the pass logic. The same amount of pressure on the button will result in totally (and I mean totally) different trajectories. Some time the ball will go to the further of two players positioned linearly and sometimes to the closer. This is even more of a mystery whee it comes to long (lofted) balls, where teh same amount of pressure will result in either an underhit pass or a wild "'ave it" type shot in the stands.
Gameplay wise, it's more difficult to draw a parallel. I find that both games have their faults and strengths. FIFA has a tendency to stretch the mifield and cluster the action just outside the penalty area. PES has a more organic / balanced feel, but then again it feels a bit weird changing teh action from wing to wing, something FIFA does better and more realistically IMO. Generally AI runs feel more logical in FIFA whereas in PES you have to rely far too frequently on triggering a teammate's run manually.
The one aspect where I feel very strongly though is the sense of achievement, the sense of WOW, the sense of unpredictability and excitement. This is where PES has teh upper hand IMO. I'm not saying that FIFA is weak, but even great chances feel a bit... lukewarm - both to the eye and in terms of control. With PES, I absolutely love the sense of scoring a goal. It's the same sensation I get when I score in real life (a goal that is - no sexual reference here...
Scoring a goal in FIFA is cool, but I don't get any urge to watch the replay.
And I think I have localised part of the reason for this. And it's a very stupid / simple thing, but personally I find it adds a lot to the atmosphere. The goals in FIFA are messed up. They are too small in relation to both stadium and players. They lack any definition in terms of net and post/bar shadows and they just look plain odd. Putting the "cat in the sack" does not feel rewarding somehow and I think some of this is a direct result of what I just described.
Scoring a goal in PES is a visual feast. It just looks and feels beautiful to let rip and see the net bulge. The attention to detail is fantastic.
There are so many aspects of the game to discuss, but for me the above are the most important - what make me come back to a particular game more than another.
If I could design my perfect game it would be a mish mash of features combined from two games, based on:
FIFA - passing, fluidity of movement, player runs, first touch control, tackles
PES - graphics / colours / shadows, sense of weight, excitement of scoring